LifeSaver Award Series: Nicole Hodge, RN, Providence Alaska Medical Center (Anchorage, Alaska)

Each month, LifeCenter Northwest selects a LifeSaver Award winner. This award honors and recognizes those who demonstrate a commitment to improving donation outcomes and culture through their actions, time and energy.

We are pleased to present this month’s LifeSaver Award to Nicole Hodge, RN, of Providence Alaska Medical Center (PAMC) in Anchorage, Alaska.

Recognizing the clinical triggers for making the initial donation referral call, making that call in a timely manner, preserving the option for donation and handling your normal workload can be a difficult balancing act for hospital staff members, especially those working on busy trauma units. Nicole, who works in the Emergency Department at PAMC, balances all these responsibilities extremely well.

In 2021, there were 248 organ donation referral calls placed from PAMC, with 16 referral calls placed from the PAMC Emergency Department. Ten of those 16 referral calls were made by Nicole, and four of the 10 patients she referred went on to be organ donors—resulting in 14 total organs transplanted.

“Nicole is continuously attuned to the organ donation process and consistently honors donor decisions,” said LifeCenter Northwest Hospital Development Program Manager Lulu Jensen. “Nicole has also gone above and beyond to assist her team when it comes to recognizing the clinical triggers and preserving the option for donation.”

Specifically, Nicole put together a standard workflow for her unit to help her team capture all patients that need to be referred, thus preserving the option for donation and avoiding early extubations. This workflow has been a success in the Emergency Department and Nicole has started working on additional ways to ensure all patients have the opportunity to give the gift of life.

We are proud to present Nicole with this LifeSaver Award for her exemplary commitment to honoring donor decisions, optimizing the donation process within PAMC and making the gift of life possible for many generous Alaskan donors and their families.